Publications

cytokine response to infection with bacillus anthracis spores.	bacillus anthracis, the etiological agent of anthrax, is a gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium. the inhalational form of anthrax is the most severe and is associated with rapid progression of the disease and the outcome is frequently fatal. transfer from the respiratory epithelium to regional lymph nodes appears to be an essential early step in the establishment of infection. this transfer is believed to occur by means of carriage within alveolar macrophages following phagocytosis. therefore, ...	2004	15501768
functional analysis of bacillus anthracis protective antigen by using neutralizing monoclonal antibodies.	protective antigen (pa) is central to the action of the lethal and edema toxins produced by bacillus anthracis. it is the common cell-binding component, mediating the translocation of the enzymatic moieties (lethal factor [lf] and edema factor) into the cytoplasm of the host cell. monoclonal antibodies (mabs) against pa, able to neutralize the activities of the toxins in vitro and in vivo, were screened. two such mabs, named 7.5 and 48.3, were purified and further characterized. mab 7.5 binds to ...	2004	15501759
bioterrorism and compulsory vaccination: united states continues vaccinating to keep troops healthy.		2004	15499123
bioterrorism and compulsory vaccination: arguments for current vaccines are based on inadequate support for older vaccines.		2004	15499122
new jersey state public health laboratory's bioterrorism response activities.		2004	15497736
communicable-disease surveillance in new jersey.	the dhss and federal agencies have expanded their surveillance efforts to improve existing methods of reporting notifiable communicable diseases and to include additional data sources that might provide a more comprehensive view of disease activity in new jersey. currently, the dhss is evaluating these efforts and recognizes several issues that need to be addressed, including: assessment of the timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of surveillance data; validation of surveillance data through c ...	2004	15497734
us restrictions limit anthrax networking.		2004	15496891
the adenylate cyclase toxins.	cyclic amp is a ubiquitous messenger that integrates many processes of the cell. diverse families of adenylate cyclases and phosphodiesterases stringently regulate the intracellular concentration of camp. any alteration in the cytosolic concentration of camp has a profound effect on the various processes of the cell. disruption of these cellular processes in vivo is often the most critical event in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases for animals and humans. many pathogenic bacteria secrete t ...	2004	15490970
thomas morison legge (1863-1932): the first medical factory inspector.	after a brief career in public health, thomas morison legge was appointed to become the first medical factory inspector, in 1898, and remained in post until his resignation in 1927. during his tenure in office he became the leading authority on lead poisoning and anthrax; he resigned when the government refused to ratify the white lead convention. subsequently he became the first medical adviser to the trades union congress.	2004	15486616
the history of woolsorters' disease: a yorkshire beginning with an international future?	woolsorters' disease was a feared industrial disease associated primarily with yorkshire's textile industry of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. early occupational health methods were attempted locally before concerted national efforts produced legislative measures. when its link with anthrax was established, attention in prevention focused upon chemical disinfection methods. together, these factors were instrumental in decreasing the incidence of woolsorters' disease. however, by th ...	2004	15486181
bioterrorism: what level is the threat and are vaccines the answer?		2004	15485326
poisoned food, poisoned uniforms, and anthrax: or, how guerillas die in war.	many people believe that rhodesia, struggling to maintain minority rule in africa, used chemical and biological weapons against african guerilla armies in the liberation war. clothes and food were routinely poisoned, and rhodesian agents, perhaps in concert with global forces of reaction, caused the largest single outbreak of anthrax in modern times. oral interviews with traditional healers and rhodesians' confessional memoirs of the war suggest that deaths by poisoning or disease were not so st ...	2004	15484386
the anthrax protective antigen (pa63) bound conformation of a peptide inhibitor of the binding of lethal factor to pa63: as determined by trnoesy nmr and molecular modeling.	anthrax protective antigen (pa) is one of the three proteins produced by the gram positive bacteria bacillus anthracis collectively known as the "anthrax toxin" (ascenzi, p.; visca, p.; ippolito, g.; spallarossa, a.; bolognesi, m.; et al. anthrax toxin: a tripartite lethal combination. febs lett. 2002, 531, 384-388). the role played by pa in anthrax intoxication is to transport the two enzymes lethal factor (lf) and edema factor (ef) into the cell. collier and co-workers (mourez, m.; kane, r. s. ...	2004	15481973
[changes in fine morphological structures of escherichia coli, staphylococcus aureus and spores of bacillus anthracis vaccine strain sti under the action of the disinfectant "veltolen"].	changes in fine morphological structures of e. coli, s. aureus and spores of b. anthracis vaccine strain sti under the action of the disinfectant "veltolen" manufactured by the closed joint-stock company "velt", were evaluated. when used at concentrations of 0.0025-0.025%, the preparation induced the loosening of the cell wall in all microorganisms under study, the intensive formation of bubbles on the cell wall surface with their subsequent separation from the cell wall and the formation of "ro ...	2004	15481924
chloroquine enhances survival in bacillus anthracis intoxication.	the intentional release of anthrax in the united states in 2001 resulted in 11 cases of inhalational disease, with an attendant mortality rate of 45%. current therapeutic options for anthrax are limited; antimicrobials target only replicating organisms, thus allowing bacterial toxins to cause unchecked, devastating physiological derangements in the host. novel approaches that target the cytotoxic effects of anthrax exotoxins are needed. chloroquine (cq), a commonly used antimalarial agent, endow ...	2004	15478072
antibiotics for anthrax: patient requests and physician prescribing practices during the 2001 new york city attacks.	little is known about patient encounters with primary care physicians and prescribing practices during the 2001 us anthrax attacks.	2004	15477436
production and purification of bacillus anthracis protective antigen from escherichia coli.	anthrax is caused by the gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium, bacillus anthracis. the anthrax toxin consists of three proteins, protective antigen (pa), lethal factor, and edema factor. current vaccines against anthrax use pa as their primary component since it confers protective immunity. in this work, we expressed soluble, recombinant pa in relatively high amounts in the periplasm of e. coli from shake flasks and bioreactors. the pa protein was purified using q-sepharose-hp and hydroxyapati ...	2004	15477093
intriguing diversity of bacillus anthracis in eastern poland--the molecular echoes of the past outbreaks.	the multiple locus vntrs analysis (mlva) revealed the presence of five genotypes in a group of 10 bacillus anthracis isolates from epidemiologically unrelated cases of bovine-anthrax in eastern poland. eight tested isolates possessed the paga and capb genes indicating the presence of both virulence plasmids, while two isolates revealed only paga and lacked pxo2. the mlva and dna sequence analysis indicated that seven tested isolates represent four novel genotypes. five tested strains revealed a ...	2004	15476971
the dxdxdg motif for calcium binding: multiple structural contexts and implications for evolution.	calcium ions regulate many cellular processes and have important structural roles in living organisms. despite the great variety of calcium-binding proteins (cabps), many of them contain the same ca(2+)-binding helix-loop-helix structure, referred to as the ef-hand. in the canonical ef-hand, the loop contains three calcium-binding aspartic acid residues, which form the dxdxdg sequence motif, and is flanked by two alpha-helices. recently, other cabps containing the same motif, but lacking one or ...	2004	15476814
using snps to decode anthrax.		2004	15475316
expression of bacillus anthracis protective antigen in transgenic chloroplasts of tobacco, a non-food/feed crop.	the centers for disease control (cdc) lists bacillus anthracis as a category a agent and estimates the cost of an anthrax attack to exceed us$ 26 billion per 100,000 exposed individuals. concerns regarding anthrax vaccine purity, a requirement for multiple injections, and a limited supply of the protective antigen (pa), underscore the urgent need for an improved vaccine. therefore, the 83 kda immunogenic bacillus anthracis protective antigen was expressed in transgenic tobacco chloroplasts. the ...	2004	15474731
characterisation of adsorbed anthrax vaccine by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.	the current uk anthrax vaccine is an alum precipitate prepared from static culture filtrate of the avirulent, unencapsulated sterne strain of bacillus anthracis. protective antigen (pa) is regarded as the major immunogen in the vaccine and production conditions are intended to maximize the pa content. however, the precise composition of the vaccine is unknown and there are concerns that the observed side effects of vaccination may be caused by residual enzymatically active toxin components. two- ...	2004	15474715
three-dimensional model of the pore form of anthrax protective antigen. structure and biological implications.	although pore formation by protective antigen (pa) is critical to cell intoxication by anthrax toxin (at), the structure of the pore form of pa (the pa63 pore) has not been determined. hence, in this study, the pa63 pore was modeled using the x-ray structures of monomeric pa and heptameric alpha-hemolysin (alpha-hl) as templates. the pa63 pore model consists of two weakly associated domains, namely the cap and stem domains. the ring-like cap domain has a length of 80 a and an outside diameter of ...	2004	15473701
comparative analysis of the schleicher and schuell isocode stix dna isolation device and the qiagen qiaamp dna mini kit.	efficient, rapid, and reproducible procedures for isolating high-quality dna before pcr gene amplification are essential for the diagnostic and molecular identification of pathogenic bacteria. this study evaluated the qiagen qiaamp dna mini kit and the schleicher and schuell isocode stix dna isolation device for isolating nucleic acid. buffer, serum, and whole-blood samples were spiked with bacillus anthracis sterne vegetative cells and yersinia pestis, while water was spiked with b. anthracis s ...	2004	15472363
taking the sting out of the anthrax vaccine.		2004	15467819
quorum quenching: enzymatic disruption of n-acylhomoserine lactone-mediated bacterial communication in burkholderia thailandensis.	many species of gram-negative bacteria communicate by synthesizing, secreting, and responding to n-acylhomoserine lactones (ahls), a mechanism termed quorum sensing. several investigations have characterized numerous ahl-degrading enzymes (aiia lactonases) encoded by environmental isolates of bacillus spp. the burkholderia thailandensis quorum system is comprised of at least three ahl synthases (ahss) and five transcriptional regulators belonging to the luxir class of proteins. expression of the ...	2004	15466564
involvement of domain ii in toxicity of anthrax lethal factor.	anthrax lethal factor (lf) is a zn2+ -metalloprotease that cleaves and inactivates mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (meks). we have used site-directed mutagenesis to identify a cluster of residues in domain ii of lf that lie outside the active site and are required for cellular proteolytic activity toward meks. alanine substituted for leu293, lys294, leu514, asn516, or arg491 caused a 10-50-fold reduction in lf toxicity. further, whereas pairwise substitution of alanine for leu514 and ei ...	2004	15465830
dna vaccines against anthrax.	dna vaccination is vaccination at its simplest. due to renewed interest in vaccination against anthrax and other biothreat agents, a genetic immunisation approach offers attractive possibilities for rapid, responsive vaccine development. dna vaccination against anthrax is an active area of research showing promising results at present, which in the short-term and in the future could form the basis for new advances in multi-agent vaccine development. the anthrax 'model' constitutes an important e ...	2004	15461577
stable isotope ratios as a tool in microbial forensics--part 2. isotopic variation among different growth media as a tool for sourcing origins of bacterial cells or spores.	since the anthrax attacks of 2001 the need for methods to trace the origins of microbial agents has become urgent. the stable isotope ratios of bacteria record information from both the nutrients and the water used to make their culture media and could potentially be used to provide information about their growth environment. we present a survey of carbon (c), nitrogen (n), and hydrogen (h) stable isotope ratios in 516 samples of bacteriological culture media. the observed variation was consiste ...	2004	15461096
the use of a model of in vivo macrophage depletion to study the role of macrophages during infection with bacillus anthracis spores.	the pathogenesis of infection by bacillus anthracis has been the subject of many investigations, but remains incompletely understood. it has been shown that b. anthracis spores germinate in macrophages and perhaps require this intracellular niche to germinate in vivo before outgrowth of the vegetative organism. however, it has also been reported that macrophages are sporicidal in vitro. in our in vivo model, macrophages were depleted from mice by either silica treatment or treatment with liposom ...	2004	15458777
identification and biochemical characterization of two novel collagen binding mscramms of bacillus anthracis.	cell wall-anchored proteins play critical roles in the pathogenesis of infections caused by gram-positive bacteria. through the analysis of the genome of bacillus anthracis ames strain, we identified two novel putative cell wall-anchored proteins, ba0871 and ba5258, which have sequence homology to cna, a cell wall-anchored collagen adhesin of staphylococcus aureus. the two proteins have similar domain organization to that of cna, with typical signal peptide sequences, a non-repetitive a region f ...	2004	15456768
prevalence of presumptive bacillus anthracis in the human population examined by nasal swabs.	routine cultures may reveal presumptive bacillus anthracis microorganisms in human samples. our study of 1336 individuals showed the probability of encountering presumptively positive cultures using routine microbiologic examination was approximately 0.4% (5 individuals) when nasal swabs were examined for the following characteristics indicative of bacillus anthracis : nonhemolytic ground-glass colonies retaining their shape when manipulated, nonmotile in testing media, and microscopically revea ...	2004	15454894
respiratory protection against bioaerosols: literature review and research needs.	research on respiratory protection against biologic agents is important to address major concerns such as occupational safety and terrorist attack. this review describes the literature on respiratory protection against bioaerosols and identifies research gaps. respiratory protection is a complex field involving a number of factors, such as the efficiency of respirator filter material; face-piece fitting; and maintenance, storage, and reuse of respirators. several studies used nonpathogenic micro ...	2004	15454893
evaluation of an anti-rpa igg elisa for measuring the antibody response in mice.	a recombinant protective antigen (rpa)-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) was developed to measure the serological response of female a/j mice after inoculation with the new rpa-based anthrax vaccine. several fundamental parameters of the elisa were evaluated: specificity, precision, accuracy, linearity, and stability. experimental results suggested that the quantitative anti-rpa igg elisa could be used to measure antibody levels in female a/j mice and may be useful as a potency ass ...	2004	15454183
the pitfalls of bioterrorism preparedness: the anthrax and smallpox experiences.	bioterrorism preparedness programs have contributed to death, illness, and waste of public health resources without evidence of benefit. several deaths and many serious illnesses have resulted from the smallpox vaccination program; yet there is no clear evidence that a threat of smallpox exposure ever existed. the anthrax spores released in 2001 have been linked to secret us military laboratories-the resultant illnesses and deaths might not have occurred if those laboratories were not in operati ...	2004	15451727
characterization and applications of catacleave probe in real-time detection assays.	cycling probe technology (cpt), which utilizes a chimeric dna-rna-dna probe and rnase h, is a rapid, isothermal probe amplification system for the detection of target dna. upon hybridization of the probe to its target dna, rnase h cleaves the rna portion of the dna/rna hybrid. utilizing cpt, we designed a catalytically cleavable fluorescence probe (catacleave probe) containing two internal fluorophores. fluorescence intensity of the probe itself was weak due to förster resonance energy transfer. ...	2004	15450799
anthrax molecular epidemiology and forensics: using the appropriate marker for different evolutionary scales.	precise identification of bacillus anthracis isolates has aided forensic and epidemiological analyses of natural anthrax cases, bioterrorism acts and industrial scale accidents by state-sponsored bioweapons programs. because there is little molecular variation among b. anthracis isolates, identifying and using rare variation is crucial for precise strain identification. we think that mutation is the primary diversifying force in a clonal, recently emerged pathogen, such as b. anthracis, since mu ...	2004	15450200
[investigations on the control of industrial anthrax; germicidal effect of sodium sulfide, sodium hydrosulfide, hydrogen sulfide, and milk of lime combined with sodium sulfide upon anthrax spores at different temperatures].		1950	15443726
synthesis of glutamic acid and glutamyl polypeptide by bacillus anthracis. i. formation of glutamic acid by transamination.		1950	15436464
the germicidal and sporicidal efficacy of methyl bromide for bacillus anthracis.		1950	15436410
blackleg in deer.		1950	15436319
anthrax in cattle.		1950	15434407
anthrax in cattle.		1950	15434392
[anthrax of the kidney fistulized into the perirenal area and into the renal sinus; penicillin therapy by endo-ureteral route; cure].		1950	15429318
blackleg in swine.		1950	15418745
the non-toxicity of bacillus anthracis cell material.		1950	15415556
anthrax in livestock during 1949 and incidence of the disease from 1945 to 1949.		1950	15413297
germicidal and sporicidal efficacy of methyl bromide for bacillus anthracis.		1950	15408479
aureomycin in the treatment of anthrax.		1950	15398849
chemical factors in the germination of spore-bearing aerobes; the effects of amino acids on the germination of bacillus anthracis, with some observations on the relation of optical form to biological activity.		1949	15392864
chemical factors in the germination of spore-bearing aerobes; the effect of yeast extract on the germination of bacillus anthracis and its replacement by adenosine.		1949	15392863
[not available].		1949	15391010
case reports of aplastic anemia after vaccine administration.		2004	15389916
safety of anthrax vaccine: an expanded review and evaluation of adverse events reported to the vaccine adverse event reporting system (vaers).	to assess the safety of a licensed anthrax vaccine (ava) given to more than 500,000 us military personnel, through review and medical evaluation of adverse events (aes) reported to the vaccine adverse event reporting system (vaers).	2004	15386719
a spontaneous translational fusion of bacillus cereus plcr and papr activates transcription of plcr-dependent genes in bacillus anthracis via binding with a specific palindromic sequence.	transformation of bacillus anthracis with plasmid pute29-plcr-papr carrying the native bacillus cereus plcr-papr gene cluster did not activate expression of b. anthracis hemolysin genes, even though these are expected to be responsive to activation by the global regulator plcr. to further characterize the action of plcr, we examined approximately 3,000 b. anthracis transformants containing pute29-plcr-papr and found a single hemolytic colony. the hemolytic strain contained a plasmid having a spo ...	2004	15385482
membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (mt1-mmp) protects malignant cells from tumoricidal activity of re-engineered anthrax lethal toxin.	protective antigen (pa) and lethal factor (lf) are the two components of anthrax lethal toxin. pa is responsible for interacting with cell receptors and for the subsequent translocation of lf inside the cell compartment. a re-engineered toxin comprised of pa and a fusion chimera lf/pseudomonas exotoxin (fp59) is a promising choice for tumor cell surface targeting. we demonstrated, however, that in vitro in cell-free system and in cultured human colon carcinoma lovo, fibrosarcoma ht1080 and gliom ...	2005	15381157
mass violence and early mental health intervention: a proposed application of best practice guidelines to chemical, biological, and radiological attacks.	based on past episodes, there will be psychological sequelae to chemical, biological, and radiological attacks. some of the psychological morbidity should be able to be ameliorated through planning and appropriate early intervention. key components of early intervention are illustrated following a hypothetical scenario of a bomb and anthrax threat near the pentagon. many of these components, such as monitoring clear, consistent messages about health risks, are provided by physicians or politicia ...	2004	15379065
a targeted proteomics approach to the rapid identification of bacterial cell mixtures by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry.	a proteomic approach to the rapid identification of bacteria is presented, which relies on the solubilization of a limited number of proteins from intact cells combined with on-probe tryptic digestion. within 20 min, complete cleavage products of a limited set of bacterial proteins with molecular masses of about 4-125 kda were obtained by on-probe digestion with immobilized trypsin. bacterial peptides suitable for unimolecular decomposition analysis were generated within 5 min, and the sequence ...	2004	15378756
protein translocation through anthrax toxin channels formed in planar lipid bilayers.	the 63-kda fragment of the protective antigen (pa) component of anthrax toxin forms a heptameric channel, (pa63)7, in acidic endosomal membranes that leads to the translocation of edema factor (ef) and lethal factor (lf) to the cytosol. it also forms a channel in planar phospholipid bilayer membranes. what role does this channel play in the translocation of ef and lf? we report that after the 263-residue n-terminal piece of lf (lfn) binds to its receptor on the (pa63)7 channel and its n-terminal ...	2004	15377524
knock-on effect of anthrax lethal toxin on macrophages potentiates cytotoxicity to endothelial cells.	herein we report the knock-on cytotoxic effect of lethal toxin (letx) on human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (huvecs). huvecs were treated either directly with letx or indirectly with letx conditioned medium (letxcm) prepared from raw264.7 macrophage cells. cytotoxicity assays were done on huvecs and a549 cells using letx. huvecs were more susceptible to letx (61-74% survivals) as compared to a549 cells (83-94% survivals, p < 0.005). however, letxcm from raw264.7 further potentiated killi ...	2004	15374005
antitoxins: novel strategies to target agents of bioterrorism.	never before has there been such a strong possibility that biological agents might be used indiscriminately on civilian populations. this review focuses on the use of antitoxins - antibodies, receptor decoys, dominant-negative inhibitors of translocation, small-molecule inhibitors and substrate analogues - to counteract those biological weapons for which toxins are an important mechanism of disease pathogenesis.	2004	15372082
[use of anthrax as biological weapon].	we describe the epidemiology of anthrax and the several human disease aspect, by spores penetration through the skin or by inhalation or ingestion, and the action of exotoxin secreted by b. anthracis. we detail pulmonary anthrax that could derive from intentional release of endospore as biological weapon. laboratory diagnosis of cereus group with cultural, fda and pcr methods are reported. environment disinfection, vaccination, antibiotic prophylaxis, passive antibody administration and treatmen ...	2004	15366519
characterization of the human immune response to the uk anthrax vaccine.	the anthrax bipartite lethal toxin (protective antigen (pa) and lethal factor (lf))-specific antibody responses of humans receiving the uk licensed anthrax vaccine were determined. the pa-specific igg response peaked two weeks post immunization and fell back to pre-boost levels by week 12. the heterogeneity of the host population modulated the extent of the pa-specific antibody response. significantly lower levels of lf-specific antibodies were also detected. vaccinated individuals recognized th ...	2004	15364114
the rods open source project: removing a barrier to syndromic surveillance.	the goal of the real-time outbreak and disease surveillance (rods) open source project is to accelerate deployment of computer-based syndromic surveillance. to this end, the project has released the rods software under the gnu general public license and created an organizational structure to catalyze its development. this paper describes the design of the software, requested extensions, and the structure of the development effort.	2004	15361001
identifying respiratory findings in emergency department reports for biosurveillance using metamap.	clinical conditions described in patients' dictated reports are necessary for automated detection of patients with respiratory illnesses such as inhalational anthrax and pneumonia. we applied metamap to emergency department reports to extract a set of 71 clinical conditions relevant to detection of a lower respiratory outbreak. we indexed umls terms in emergency department reports with metamap, filtered the indexed output with a specialized lexicon of umls terms for the domain, and mapped the cl ...	2004	15360860
mass value assignment of total and subclass immunoglobulin g in a human standard anthrax reference serum.	an anti-anthrax vaccine adsorbed (anti-ava) standard human reference serum pool, avr414, has been prepared, and the total and protective antigen (pa)-specific immunoglobulin g (igg) were quantified. avr414 was prepared by plasmapheresis of healthy adults who had received a minimum of four subcutaneous injections of ava. mass values (in milligrams per milliliter) for total igg and igg subclasses 1 to 4 were determined by radial immunodiffusion. anti-pa-specific igg assignment (in micrograms per m ...	2004	15358653
cross-inhibition between furin and lethal factor inhibitors.	bacillus anthracis synthesizes two toxins composed of the three proteins: protective antigen (pa), lethal factor (lf), and edema factor (ef). the cleavage of pa on the cell surface by the convertase furin leads to the translocation of lf and ef into the cytosol. we have investigated the cross-inhibitory activities of the furin inhibitors hexa-d-arginine amide (d6r) and nona-d-arginine amide (d9r), which block the proteolytic activation of pa; and of the lf inhibitor in-2-lf, a peptide hydroxamat ...	2004	15358148
anthrax exposure--stay alert, act swiftly.	initiating appropriate antibiotic therapy as soon as anthrax infection is suspected is not only acceptable but is also justified by the outcomes of the 2001 anthrax cases.	2004	15357168
stevens-johnson syndrome after immunization with smallpox, anthrax, and tetanus vaccines.	a 19-year-old male military recruit developed erythema multiforme 20 days after receiving a triad of vaccinations: smallpox (vaccinia virus), anthrax, and tetanus. over the course of a few days, the erythema multiforme evolved into stevens-johnson syndrome, associated with widespread bullae, stomatitis, conjunctivitis, and fever. after 7 days of conservative management, the patient's signs and symptoms improved. this case serves as a timely reminder of a severe and potentially life-threatening c ...	2004	15357044
[monoclonal antibodies to b.anthracis protective antigen are capable to neutralize and to enhance the anthrax lethal toxin action in vitro].	anthrax belongs to highly dangerous infections of man and animals. no effective treatment methods for pulmonary types of the disease have been yet developed. the existing anthrax vaccines were designed decades ago and need improvement to fit the large-scale vaccination of population. at the same time, the immunological properties of the anthrax vaccine main component, i.e. of the protective agent, have been poorly studied. we obtained, within the present case study, a panel of mouse monoclonal a ...	2004	15354937
binary bacterial toxins: biochemistry, biology, and applications of common clostridium and bacillus proteins.	certain pathogenic species of bacillus and clostridium have developed unique methods for intoxicating cells that employ the classic enzymatic "a-b" paradigm for protein toxins. the binary toxins produced by b. anthracis, b. cereus, c. botulinum, c. difficile, c. perfringens, and c. spiroforme consist of components not physically associated in solution that are linked to various diseases in humans, animals, or insects. the "b" components are synthesized as precursors that are subsequently activat ...	2004	15353562
identification of bacillus anthracis proteins associated with germination and early outgrowth by proteomic profiling of anthrax spores.	the use of anthrax spores as a bioweapon has spurred efforts aimed at identifying key proteins expressed in bacillus anthracis. because spore germination and outgrowth occur prior to and are required for disease manifestations, blocking germination and early outgrowth with novel vaccines or inhibitors targeting critical b. anthracis germination and outgrowth-associated factors is a promising strategy in mitigating bioterror. by screening 587 paired protein spots that were isolated from dormant a ...	2004	15352240
the nhea component of the non-hemolytic enterotoxin of bacillus cereus is produced by bacillus anthracis but is not required for virulence.	a non-hemolytic enterotoxin (nhe) is one of the two enterotoxins thought to cause diarrhea produced by bacillus cereus. we identified genes in bacillus anthracis homologous to the b. cereus nheab genes encoding proteins of the nhe complex. the nhea component was detected immunologically in culture supernatants from b. anthracis but not from a nhea(-) mutant, suggesting that b. anthracis produces and secretes the nhea subunit of nhe. a nhea deletion mutant was not attenuated in the guinea pig sug ...	2004	15351038
avidin/biotin-liposome system injected in the pleural space for drug delivery to mediastinal lymph nodes.	the objective of this study was to develop a more effective liposome-based method for delivering drugs to mediastinal nodes. nodal uptake was determined after intrapleural injection of the avidin/biotin-liposome system in normal rats. the effect of injection sequence (avidin injected 2 h before biotin-liposomes and vice versa), volume injected, and administered dose of the agents is described. pharmacokinetics of the avidin/biotin-liposome system was monitored with scintigraphic imaging by label ...	2004	15349969
bioterrorism: is it a real threat?	the geneva protocol of 1925 commits the signatory nations to refraining from the use of biological weapons. however, the terrorist assaults of september 2001 and, subsequently, the anthrax-containing letters are cause for great concerns: new threats to the security of nations are expected, as terrorist organizations seem to increasingly explore novel ways of spreading terror. in this context, naturally emerging diseases such as sars, monkeypox or west nile fever assume new importance because it ...	2005	15349775
phylogenetic discovery bias in bacillus anthracis using single-nucleotide polymorphisms from whole-genome sequencing.	phylogenetic reconstruction using molecular data is often subject to homoplasy, leading to inaccurate conclusions about phylogenetic relationships among operational taxonomic units. compared with other molecular markers, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) exhibit extremely low mutation rates, making them rare in recently emerged pathogens, but they are less prone to homoplasy and thus extremely valuable for phylogenetic analyses. despite their phylogenetic potential, ascertainment bias occur ...	2004	15347815
[heterogeneity of bacillus anthracis strains in terms of their adhesive capacity].	the homogeneity of colonies of two b. anthracis vaccine strains in r- and rs- forms (100 colonies of each strain) in terms of their adhesive capacity was studied. b. anthracis strain 228/8 showed more heterogeneous composition than b. anthracis strain 71/12, moderately and highly adhesive colonies prevailing in both forms and nonadhesive colonies being absent. the prevalence of highly adhesive clones was established in the rs- form of b. anthracis strain 72/12 in comparison with r- form. by the ...	2004	15346957
immune responses to bacillus anthracis protective antigen in patients with bioterrorism-related cutaneous or inhalation anthrax.	anti-protective antigen (pa) immunoglobulin (ig) g, toxin neutralization, and pa-specific igg memory b cell responses were studied in patients with bioterrorism-related cutaneous or inhalation anthrax and in a patient with laboratory-acquired cutaneous anthrax. responses were determined for >1 year after the onset of symptoms. eleven days after the onset of symptoms (15 days after likely exposure), anti-pa igg was detected in 16 of 17 patients with confirmed or suspected clinical anthrax who wer ...	2004	15346332
bioterrorism and compulsory vaccination.		2004	15345604
integrating bioterrorism education into nursing school curricula.	due to the events of september 11, 2001 and the bioterrorism-related anthrax episodes, the united states has escalated efforts to better prepare the nation for terrorist attacks. early recognition and management of a biological attack are largely dependent on the clinical expertise of frontline health care personnel. nurses are recognized as an integral part of this team. schools of nursing should integrate bioterrorism education into their curricula to address this growing frontier of health ca ...	2004	15344372
a cationic lipid-formulated plasmid dna vaccine confers sustained antibody-mediated protection against aerosolized anthrax spores.	dna vaccines provide an attractive technology platform against bioterrorism agents due to their safety record in humans and ease of construction, testing, and manufacture. we have designed monovalent and bivalent anthrax plasmid dna (pdna) vaccines encoding genetically detoxified protective antigen (pa) and lethal factor (lf) proteins and tested their immunogenicity and ability to protect rabbits from an aerosolized inhalation spore challenge. immune responses after two or three injections of ca ...	2004	15342913
crystal structure of 7,8-dihydropteroate synthase from bacillus anthracis: mechanism and novel inhibitor design.	dihydropterate synthase (dhps) is the target for the sulfonamide class of antibiotics, but increasing resistance has encouraged the development of new therapeutic agents against this enzyme. one approach is to identify molecules that occupy the pterin binding pocket which is distinct from the paba binding pocket that binds sulfonamides. toward this goal, we present five crystal structures of dhps from bacillus anthracis, a well-documented bioterrorism agent. three dhps structures are already kno ...	2004	15341734
syndromic surveillance.		2004	15338541
membrane insertion of anthrax protective antigen and cytoplasmic delivery of lethal factor occur at different stages of the endocytic pathway.	the protective antigen (pa) of anthrax toxin binds to a cell surface receptor, undergoes heptamerization, and binds the enzymatic subunits, the lethal factor (lf) and the edema factor (ef). the resulting complex is then endocytosed. via mechanisms that depend on the vacuolar atpase and require membrane insertion of pa, lf and ef are ultimately delivered to the cytoplasm where their targets reside. here, we show that membrane insertion of pa already occurs in early endosomes, possibly only in the ...	2004	15337774
thermal inactivation of protective antigen of bacillus anthracis and its prevention by polyol osmolytes.	protective antigen (pa) of bacillus anthracis is the main immunogen of all anthrax vaccines. it is a highly thermolabile molecule and loses its activity rapidly when exposed to higher temperatures. earlier some cosolvents had been used to stabilize pa with variable success but no study has been done to find out the primary cause of pa thermal inactivation. this study aims at elucidating the predominant cause of thermal inactivation of pa in order to develop more effective strategies for its ther ...	2004	15336568
targeting of bacillus anthracis interaction factors for human macrophages using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.	bacillus anthracis, a gram-positive, endospore-forming, aerobic rod-shaped bacterium, interacts with macrophages at various stages of the disease. spore germination and the outgrowth of vegetative bacilli are crucial steps enabling the bacteria to proliferate actively and to synthesize the virulence factors leading to a massive septicemia. in this study, we performed a proteomic analysis and maldi-tof/ms were carried out to identify proteins using human macrophages infected with the spores of b. ...	2004	15336541
pathogene: a pathogen coding sequence discovery and analysis resource.	pathogene is a web-based resource that streamlines the process of predicting genes in microorganisms and designs pcr primers for amplification to facilitate sequence analysis and experimentation. pathogene currently supports primer design for every complete microbial, viral, and fungal genome as cataloged in genbank by the national center for biotechnology information (ncbi; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). the resulting primers can then be subjected to a stand-alone basic local alignment search t ...	2004	15335212
lethality of chlorine, chlorine dioxide, and a commercial fruit and vegetable sanitizer to vegetative cells and spores of bacillus cereus and spores of bacillus thuringiensis.	chlorine, clo2, and a commercial raw fruit and vegetable sanitizer were evaluated for their effectiveness in killing vegetative cells and spores of bacillus cereus and spores of bacillus thuringiensis. the ultimate goal was to use one or both species as a potential surrogate(s) for bacillus anthracis in studies that focus on determining the efficacy of sanitizers in killing the pathogen on food contact surfaces and foods. treatment with alkaline (ph 10.5 to 11.0) clo2 (200 microg/ml) produced by ...	2004	15330537
structure of heptameric protective antigen bound to an anthrax toxin receptor: a role for receptor in ph-dependent pore formation.	after binding to cellular receptors and proteolytic activation, the protective antigen component of anthrax toxin forms a heptameric prepore. the prepore later undergoes ph-dependent conversion to a pore, mediating translocation of the edema and lethal factors to the cytosol. we describe structures of the prepore (3.6 a) and a prepore:receptor complex (4.3 a) that reveal the location of pore-forming loops and an unexpected interaction of the receptor with the pore-forming domain. lower ph is req ...	2004	15326297
rapid detection of bacillus anthracis spores directly from powders with an evanescent wave fiber-optic biosensor.	there currently are no rapid, sensitive tests to directly and reliably detect bacillus anthracis spores in common powders. traditional culture is time consuming and molecular techniques cannot directly process powders. this study describes a biosensor assay that detects b. anthracis at concentrations of 3.2 x 10(5) spores/mg or higher in spiked powders in less than 1 h with minimal sample preparation.	2004	15325759
anthrax.	anthrax is an often fatal bacterial infection that occurs when bacillus anthracis endospores enter the body through one of three major routes: inhalational, cutaneous, or gastrointestinal. before the anthrax terrorist attacks in the united states in 2001, there was very little interest in anthrax as a serious human pathogen; anthrax was viewed mainly as a veterinarian problem of minor importance, with most cases attributed to occupational exposure. however, this cavalier attitude toward anthrax ...	2004	15325717
discovery of a small molecule that inhibits the interaction of anthrax edema factor with its cellular activator, calmodulin.	the catalytic efficiency of adenylyl cyclase activity of edema factor (ef) from bacillus anthracis is enhanced by approximately 1000-fold upon its binding to mammalian protein calmodulin (cam). a tandem cell-based and protein binding-based screen of a 10,000 member library identified a molecule that inhibits the ef-cam interaction and therefore the adenylyl cyclase activity. a combination of fluorescence spectroscopy and photolabeling studies showed that the molecule targets the cam binding regi ...	2004	15324815
estimating time and size of bioterror attack.	in the event of a bioterror attack, rapidly estimating the size and time of attack enables short-run forecasts of the number of persons who will be symptomatic and require medical care. we present a bayesian approach to this problem for use in real time and illustrate it with data from a simulated anthrax attack. the method is simple enough to be implemented in a spreadsheet.	2004	15324538
the capsule of bacillus anthracis behaves as a thymus-independent type 2 antigen.	bacillus anthracis elaborates a homopolymeric capsule composed of gamma-d-glutamic acid residues. mice were immunized with formalin-fixed encapsulated b. anthracis bacilli, and the serum antibody response to a gamma-d-glutamyl capsular epitope was measured. antiglutamyl antibodies were elicited in athymic balb/c nu/nu, balb/c nu/+, and cba/j mice but not in cba/n xid mice. these response patterns define the capsule of b. anthracis as a thymus-independent type 2 antigen.	2004	15322045
population structure of the bacillus cereus group as determined by sequence analysis of six housekeeping genes and the plcr gene.	the population structure of the bacillus cereus group (52 strains of b. anthracis, b. cereus, and b. thuringiensis) was investigated by sequencing seven gene fragments (rpob, gyrb, pyca, mdh, mbl, muts, and plcr). most of the strains were classifiable into two large subgroups in six housekeeping gene trees but not in the plcr tree. in addition, several consistent clusters were identified, which were unrelated to species distinction. moreover, interrelationships among these clusters were incongru ...	2004	15322020
structural biology: anthrax hijacks host receptor.		2004	15318206
common oligosaccharide moieties inhibit the adherence of typical and atypical respiratory pathogens.	intervention in bacterial adhesion to host cells is a novel method of overcoming current problems associated with antibiotic resistance. antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that cause respiratory tract infections are a problem in hospitals and could be used in bioterrorist attacks. a range of bacterial species was demonstrated to attach to an alveolar epithelial (a549) cell line. in all cases, cell surface oligosaccharides were important in attachment, demonstrated by reduced adhesion when ...	2004	15314189
anthrax toxin complexes: heptameric protective antigen can bind lethal factor and edema factor simultaneously.	the 83 kda protective antigen (pa(83)) component of anthrax toxin, after proteolytic activation, self-associates to form ring-shaped heptamers ([pa(63)](7)) that bind and aid delivery of the edema factor (ef) and lethal factor (lf) components to the cytosol. here we show using fluorescence (förster) resonance energy transfer that a molecule of [pa(63)](7) can bind ef and lf simultaneously. we labeled ef and lf with an appropriate donor/acceptor pair and found quenching of the donor and an increa ...	2004	15313199
a rapid biosensor for viable b. anthracis spores.	a simple membrane-strip-based biosensor assay has been combined with a nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (nasba) reaction for rapid (4 h) detection of a small number (ten) of viable b. anthracis spores. the biosensor is based on identification of a unique mrna sequence from one of the anthrax toxin genes, the protective antigen ( pag), encoded on the toxin plasmid, pxo1, and thus provides high specificity toward b. anthracis. previously, the anthrax toxins activator ( atxa) mrna had been ...	2004	15309363
diagnostic probes for bacillus anthracis spores selected from a landscape phage library.	recent use of bacillus anthracis spores as a bioweapon has highlighted the need for a continuous monitoring system. current monitoring systems rely on antibody-derived probes, which are not hardy enough to withstand long-term use under extreme conditions. we describe new, phage-derived probes that can be used as robust substitutes for antibodies.	2004	15308600